Boskone 56 Report

        I spent this weekend at Boskone 56, the convention of the New England Science Fiction Association.  I had a great time and thought I’d share a few of the highlights.

        Right off the bat on Friday I did a reading from The Extraordinary Book of Doors.  There were five of us reading from our mostly middle grade works, and all the excerpts were thoroughly enjoyable to hear.  My fellow authors were Sarah Beth Durst, Sarah Jean Horwitz, Christine Taylor-Butler, and Justin Key, and I was honored to be in such excellent company.  I recommend checking out any of their books.  (Horwitz’s new book even features Jenny Haniver monsters!)

        On Saturday I was on a panel “Is Escaping Reality Good For Kids,” and while I certainly have lots of Opinions about this (click the Label for the panel in the sidebar to see my previous posts related to the subject), it was cool to hear other authors’ takes on the idea.  But of course we all agreed that reading SFF, whether it serves as “escapism” or “engaging more fully with the world” (and those are not necessarily contradictory), is a Good Thing.  Later I ran a printmaking project and, as usual, was impressed with the cool images people were able to come up with in a short time.  (Our time slot was only 50 minutes, so we used stamp pads instead of printing ink.)

        On Sunday I gave a workshop on using poetry as a tool in world-building, and spent some time making treasure maps with the kids’ program, and of course throughout the weekend I attended other panels and workshops, mostly on writing, and I enjoyed the entire art show.  I closed out the art show with excellent sales, including the last “Capybureau”!  It was a very small edition (only 6), but even so it’s set a record for selling out, and this from a critter I had thought no one would actually want to buy.  And to cap it all off (Ta DUM!) I received a Judge’s Choice ribbon for my “body of work” on display.  I am thoroughly honored and feeling very encouraged as I plug away pretty steadily at my mythical bestiary.  It may even be ready to bring to Boskone 57, which would be very exciting.  So I send out great big thanks to everyone!